Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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337. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the composition of the European Union's team that will be engaged in the Brexit negotiations; and if representatives of the Government will be directly involved in those negotiations. [6024/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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At the meeting on 15 December 2016 of 27 Heads of State or Government (HoSG), including the Taoiseach, agreement was reached on the procedural arrangements to apply on the EU side in the upcoming negotiations process. These are based on the provisions of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. Following notification by the UK Government, the EU27 HoSG will adopt guidelines defining the framework for the negotiations. The General Affairs Council will then adopt more detailed negotiating directives and will authorise the opening of the negotiations.

The guidelines and negotiating directives will be updated as necessary in the course of the negotiations.

The European Commission will be the Union negotiator. Its team will be led by Michel Barnier and will include a representative of the rotating Presidency of the Council. Representatives of the President of the European Council will be present alongside the European Commission representatives at all negotiating sessions. As is the case in all European Union negotiations, Individual Member States will not be present at these sessions.

However, progress will be monitored, and guidance given to the Commission, by a dedicated Working Party involving all Member States, which in turn will report to COREPER, on which Ireland’s Permanent Representative to the European Union sits. It is expected that the Working Party will meet at least once a week.

The negotiations will therefore be under the overall strategic and political guidance of the European Council and the General Affairs Council, and will be scrutinised in great detail at senior official and Ambassadorial levels.

We will pursue our national interests and priorities fully within this framework.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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338. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if the final terms of the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union will need to be ratified by Dáil Éireann. [6025/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union provides the legal framework for withdrawal by a Member State from the EU. It provides that agreement between the EU and the UK on British withdrawal has to be concluded within two years, unless there is unanimous agreement on the extension of the period. If after the two year negotiation period an EU-UK agreement has not been reached, the UK will exit the EU without such an agreement. Assuming there is an agreed outcome to the Article 50 negotiations, on the EU side this will need to be approved by a qualified majority in the Council of the European Union, with the consent of the European Union. Unanimity among the Member States is, therefore, not required.

Article 50 does not require that the agreement be ratified by the Member States, so the question of ratification by Dáil Éireann will not arise. However, the Oireachtas has an important role in the national discussions now underway and I expect that these matters will continue to be discussed and debated in both Houses and in Oireachtas Committees on a regular basis.

It is hoped that there will be a further agreement on the UK’s future relationship with the EU, which may cover a broad range of policy areas, including trade. The negotiation of such an agreement is likely to take considerably longer than two years, and in any event could not legally be concluded before the UK leaves the EU. Depending on the content of this agreement, which is subject to negotiation, ratification by each Member State may be required in accordance with its own constitutional procedures. In such an event, it is highly likely that the approval of Dáil Éireann would be required before Ireland could ratify.